WASHINGTON �� The partial U.S. government shutdown entered its fourth day Tuesday as the White House and lawmakers remained at an impasse over President Donald Trump's demands to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
There was little indication of urgency to resolve the dispute and no public indication of progress Tuesday, which was a federal holiday. Trump is demanding $5 billion for a border wall while Democratic leaders have proposed $1.3 billion for border security. Congressional leaders left town while Trump remained at the White House.
Democrats said Monday they're having trouble negotiating with the administration. "Different people from the same White House are saying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his Trump Shutdown, making it impossible to know where they stand at any given moment," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.), said in joint statement.
The shutdown, which began Saturday, affects nine of 15 federal departments, dozens of agencies and hundreds of thousands of workers. Among the departments without funding are Justice, Homeland Security, Interior and Treasury. Independent agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, are also affected.
The departments whose funding lapsed represent about a quarter of the $1.24 trillion in government discretionary spending for fiscal year 2019.
An estimated 400,000 federal employees will work without pay and 350,000 will now be furloughed, according to a congressional Democratic aide.
The remaining parts of the government, including the Defense Department, Labor Department and Health and Human Services Department, were already funded and are not affected by the shutdown, nor will mandatory entitlement programs like Medicare payments.
